having it all in Tribeca for relatively little, as 405 Greenwich Street condo loft goes for $1,173/ft

50 weeks is a long time in the current Manhattan residential real estate market

This number ($2.585mm) does not match these words (“newly renovated …. loft has it all”) about the recently sold “2,204 sq ft” Manhattan condo loft on the 3rd floor at 405 Greenwich Street. If you do the math (or remember the headline), that’s ‘only’ $1,173/ft in northwest Tribeca behind the Holland Tunnel spillways. You can take my word for the fact that is a rather low value for a truly top-end renovation for a condo (even a no-frills condo) in this increasingly chi-chi corner of Tribeca, or you can take my words in posts about higher value lofts recently sold (such as the to-be-combined Tribeca sale at $1,537/ft in my October 19 post, the Soho ‘project’ loft at $1,018/ft I hit on October 10, or another ‘project’ near the Ace Hotel at $1,071/ft I hit on September 27), or you can take my numbers by scanning the Master List of Downtown Loft Sales.

In the spirit of the famous lady complaining about the small portions of the bad food in the Catskills 50 years ago, not only was this sales price disappointingly low, it took a long time to arrive:

Sept 13, 2012

new to market

$2.95mm

Jan 9, 2013

$2.85mm

Feb 11

$2.75mm

May 9

change firms

$2.65mm

Sept 4

contract

Sept 23

sold

$2.585mm

That’s 4 prices, two firms, and 356 days to contract.

what does “it all” look like in a modern Tribeca loft?

The full-floor loft is not quite a classic Long-and-Narrow, as there are no back wall windows though there are some side windows to the rear. The photos are limited (no kitchen pix??) and the floor plan is too obscure for my eyes, but it appears there is a second bedroom toward the back (using one of the side windows) and a master suite along the entire rear wall with (possibly) 3 side windows. All the plumbing (2 baths, the kitchen, and a powder room) are on one long wall between the public stairwell and the master bedroom, while the elevator is in the wrong place, taking up a window in one front corner, leaving only two windows in the public space. White walls and ceilings help lighten up the space in real life, no doubt, and bleaching the listing photos helps lighten up the marketing, but this is likely to be a disappointing space for the light lovers of Tribeca.

It is hard to know what both parts of this babbling mean (“[e]xtra clean and newly renovated”) in a building that was converted to condominium in 2002 and sold then with “oversized gourmet island kitchen featur[ing] top of the line cabinetry and appliances”, central air, and “lavish limestone master bath”, already in a 2-bedroom-2.5-bath array, but maybe there were upgrades that are not described or visible in the listing photos. (But: “extra” clean??) Perhaps the “professional stainless chefs kitchen[with] cherry cabinets” of 2012-13 is different from the original “gourmet island kitchen featur[ing] top of the line cabinetry”, but that’s just guessing. (And: no kitchen pix??)

If you assume top-of-the-market finishes for 2002, we have a mint condition condo with central air and wood-burning fireplace that just sold for $1,173/ft in prime-ish Tribeca.

if not “all”, what’s missing?

Reasoning backwards is much easier than reasoning forwards, as The Market has already answered. Taking full advantage of that unfairness, I see the windows as an issue, and possibly what’s outside them. As I mentioned, there are only 2 windows up front, with the elevator sitting where a third should be (had been, long ago), and the run of utilities on that long wall (elevator to stairs to half bath to kitchen to bath to utilities to master bath) taking up a full third of the width of the loft. Property Shark has the building at 25 ft x 100 ft, which means that long great room up front is something like 16 ft x 65 ft, kinda sorta like a bowling alley with no natural light getting back to the kitchen / dining areas. You could make the kitchen even darker by putting a third (interior) bedroom opposite, as there is no other logical place for that bedroom without a massive re-do.

Those two front windows look across wide Greenwich at the base and plaza of the Citibank tower. That is far from the most charming view in Tribeca but I doubt it is materially worse than looking at Independence Plaza as they do a couple of blocks south.

That’s all I got. (Ain’t much.) Not having seen the space I can’t comment about feel, but if there are any classic loft elements apart from the back wall of brick, I missed them in the photos and babble.

$1,173/ft, for a condo loft in near-prime Tribeca with (at worst) a nice 2002 build-out. The Market sneered at this loft as hundreds of owners of downtown lofts brought them to market and walked away with money.

Look at this recent sale at $1,618/ft a few blocks down and over (in truly prime Tribeca). The “1,700 sq ft” Manhattan loft on the 7th floor at 14 Jay Street may yet get its own post, but today I will use it as comp fodder. Two bedrooms only (like at 405 Greenwich Street), “beautifully renovated” with central air, fireplace, “state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen” and probably a few more bells and whistles (sound, heated floors) and real views. Yet, a coop that went 38% higher than the 3rd floor condo on a dollar per foot basis and (while 500 feet smaller) in actual dollars $170,000 higher. (Note to self … play with this pair again.)

Thanks for the info about developments in this dynamic corner of TriBeCa. Without looking, I assume the new one will be on a Ponte family site.

The threat of loss will probably have a greater impact on value here than the actual loss down the line. After all, there are a remarkable number of expensive lofts with interior “bedrooms” only, or with close-views of bricks. Thanks for stopping by, TriRes, and for leaving a trace.

About the guy at Manhattan Loft Guy

Sandy Mattingly has been Manhattan Loft Guy since March 2006. The Guy thinks out loud in real time on The Blog about the loft niche in the Manhattan residential real estate market, often via a post about a specific loft that recently sold, how the transaction fits into market trends, what is interesting (weird!) about the loft, and how that sale fits into past sales in the building. Perhaps the most unusual resource is unique to Manhattan Loft Guy: a Master List of downtown Manhattan lofts that have sold since November 2008 from $500,000 to $5,000,000. Now a Licensed Associate RE Broker with The Corcoran Group (as “Charles M. Mattingly” at 524 Broadway, NY, NY 10012), the content, opinions, errors (real-time blogging is sometimes not pretty), and snark are all his (scroll down for the disclaimer).

Of course, The Guy’s day job is helping buyers and sellers one-to-one and he can be reached most easily at Sandy.Mattingly@corcoran.com, Sandy@ManhattanLoftGuy.com or 917.902.2491, and followed on Twitter and FaceBook (see buttons, coming, above). In real life, he’s bought and lived in lofts in developing Manhattan residential areas going back to “Tribeca” in 1981 (back in the day, indeed) and believes in service. He’s been on the board and head of the parents association of one of the largest NYC private schools, chair of the pastoral council of his Chelsea parish, and lay trustee of that parish; currently he sits on the board of a 501(c)(3) social outreach mission, serves on the alumni council of his alma mater, and is proud to be a kidney donor (you can’t take it with you: see donation information here).

The Corcoran Disclaimer: “Equal Housing Opportunity. This website is not the official website of The Corcoran Group or its affiliated companies, and neither The Corcoran Group nor its affiliated companies in any way warrant the accuracy of any information contained herein. Any property or services offered for sale on this website shall not be considered an offer to sell such goods or services in any state other New York.”